Since this week was Nelson Mandela’s birthday (Happy 95th!), there were a lot of good quotes of his floating around the Interwebz. The one I’m featuring today seems particularly apt for the week I’ve just had: “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

It’s a powerful perspective on staying focused on moving forward rather than castigating yourself for failures.

In my case, I wrote five words of fiction. I’m now at 770 words on Fire to Water. It’s frustrating to feel held back by my work and school schedule–especially when work hasn’t been helping me feel successful, and my measure of school success boils down to a string of grades that don’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things or future job prospects.

I had a particularly rough Friday, realizing how much I’ve held myself back from various career opportunities, so I’ve been actively working on reprogramming myself to be able to accept the options that come my way.

All that said, yesterday we had a lovely, sunset walk with the dogs of almost 4 miles, bringing my mileage for the week up to 7.74 across three walks–despite the overwhelming heat wave that struck these parts this week. I also turned in my weekly paper at 10:30 tonight, instead of pushing the deadline all the way to midnight, and otherwise finished all my school assignments.

As the song says… two out of three ain’t bad.

Unfortunately for my peace of mind, the thing that’s most important to me–my writing–keeps falling to the bottom of my priority list. I hope some of my learning this week ripples into my work this week, and I get back on track with fiction writing. In the meantime, check out how everyone else in the ROW80 round is progressing with their goals.

Like this:

Related

2 Responses to “Getting Up Again”

You’ll get back to it. One thing I’ve learned is that if you never lose sight of a goal, you always find a way back, even if its never fast enough or you can’t give it the time and resources you want. Keep it alive and you will. That philosophy helps me get through the harder times. Like you, even though writing is a personal priority, life does not always let me have the time I wish I did. Good luck sweetie.

Sorry to hear about the bad day on Friday. Sometimes those bad days though are a blessing in disguise though–they help us stop what we’re dong long enough to take a serious re-evaluation of our decisions so far. When you have a chance, perhaps you’ll find yourself changing directions easier–or finding the place you really want to be is right where you are.